Shī Nàiān

Quotes

1. A magnificent steed gets a dolt for a rider, a charming wife sleeps with an oaf of a husband.

2. 

   A close neighbor means more than a distant relative.

3. 

   When the fence is strong no dogs get in.

4. 

   The winds and clouds in the sky are unfathomable. A man's luck changes in an instant.

5. 

   Any food when you're hungry,

   When you're cold rags save life;

   Any road when you're frightened,

   When you're poor any wife.

6. 

   [Lu Zhishen] bent and grasped the lower part of the trunk with his right hand, while his left hand seized it higher up, then gave a tremendous wrench—and pulled the tree from the ground, roots and all!

7. 

   [Song Jiang] helped anyone, high or low, who sought his aid. [...] He was always making things easy for people, solving their difficulties, settling differences, saving lives. He provided the indigent with funds for coffins and medicines, gave charity to the poor, assisted in emergencies, helped in cases of hardship. And so he was famed throughout the provinces of Shandong and Hebei, and was known to all as the Timely Rain, for like the rain from the heavens he brought succor to every living thing.

8. 

   Earth can stop the flow of water, generals can cope with enemy troops.

9. 

   Calamity and happiness have no volition. Man brings them on himself. Go in a flaxen cape to put out a fire and you'll be consumed by flames.

10. 

    Friends don't last forever!

11. 

    Money to an official is like blood to a fly.

12. 

    The importance of human life is vast as the sky!